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Wage thieves will soon face criminal prosecution in Multnomah County

Northwest Labor Press – By Colin Staub
Aug 17, 2022

Employers who intentionally withhold wages totaling more than $10,000 could be taken to criminal court under an agreement in development between state labor regulators and the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office.

Oregon’s Bureau of Labor & Industries (BOLI) signed a memorandum of understanding with District Attorney Mike Schmidt on March 7. It’s not binding and isn’t legally enforceable, but it indicates both parties intend to enhance enforcement of wage and hour laws.

No cases have been referred for prosecution yet. But BOLI Wage & Hour Administrator Laura van Enckevort said she hopes to have at least a few cases identified for referral to the DA’s office in September, and definitely before the end of the year.

Employers could face felony charges

Schmidt says he was interested in tackling wage theft even before voters elected him in May 2020. He draws a connection between wage theft and public safety.

“When workers aren’t paid and they can’t bring home a paycheck, then that hits food on the table, the electric bill, the school supplies, that hits everything, and that can destabilize entire communities,” Schmidt said. “When I think about public safety, the thing that I think makes us the most safe is when communities are healthy and thriving. If you look out across Multnomah County, the places with the greatest economic disparity are the places we see the most criminal challenges.”

Schmidt says he’s heard several first-hand accounts from victims of wage theft since entering office. In one case, a man came to Schmidt to advocate on behalf of a group of Portland laborers who weren’t being paid by a contractor.

“They got to the first round of checks, and they bounced,” Schmidt said. “The second round of checks, and they bounced. They got to the third round, and he promised a bag full of cash. And then he showed up with an empty bag. He kept stringing them along until they finally walked off the job.”

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State Senate considers defining wage theft in state law

Delaware Public Media | By Paul Kiefer
Published May 18, 2022

Delaware’s Department of Labor and Department of Justice are backing a bill that would criminalize wage theft by employers.

Deputy Secretary of Labor Rachel Turney says under current Delaware law, employees paid under the table or misclassified as independent contractors have no clear way to seek justice if their employer doesn’t pay them appropriately for their work.

“The goal of the bill is to provide protection to workers who are paid under the table or misclassified as independent contractors, and therefore are not covered by the workers protection laws in place,” she said.

Her office estimates it receives about 1,000 of these complaints each year, and Turney says the most they can do is refer them to agencies like the IRS, which rarely take up individual worker complaints.

Sam Noel, a spokesman for Carpenters’ Union Local 255, supports the bill, saying it would help address the increasing misclassification of workers in the construction industry.

“This really helps the industry have contractors all on the same playing field,” he said.

This bill would allow employees to bring complaints to the Department of Labor, which would hold a hearing with the employer accused of wrongdoing. Employers found not to have paid an employee correctly would be required to provide restitution to the employee and pay a fine. Those fines would help pay for two enforcement officers – one at the Department of Labor, and another at the Department of Justice.

But State Sen. Colin Bonini is concerned about that funding structure.

“I’m always loathe to create enforcement mechanisms that are self-funding based on the fines they can levy on the people they’re overseeing,” he said.

Despite those concerns, the bill cleared the Senate’s labor committee on Wednesday.

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